NPR Mobile

Simple Update Approved

flubacher — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:21:16 +0000

Tonight, an update was approved that will change the behavior of the Listen button. Now, it will be shown in red if the audio is unavailable, and you will be reminded that some audio is posted after 5pm Eastern.

Life is Good (again)

flubacher — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:54:46 +0000

It would appear to me that the application is functioning as expected now. The missing audio links have reappeared.

Apparent Problems

flubacher — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:11:30 +0000

I’m getting a load of reports that audio isn’t playing. After looking into the issue, it appears that there is something broken with NPR’s service. I’ve notified them, and hope to see it corrected soon.

It also appears that NPR changed the format of some of their responses to the queries that my app sends it. Their responses aren’t being parse properly, and therefore, the “All Programs” listing has stopped working. I’ve updated my code, along with a couple of other bug fixes. I’ll be submitting an update soon.

(About 10 minutes later…)

Now NPR is returning nothing for a query for the All Programs listing…

(http://api.npr.org/list?id=3004)



  All Programs

I think I’ll just go to bed instead.

(and about a day later…)

They have All Programs fixed up, but still we’re missing a lot of audio. It sounds like they’ve changed their licensing/rights on some items. I’ll be following up on the details of this.

Hello Chicago

flubacher — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:59:14 +0000

I’m on a trip to Chicago for work, and thought I’d try the station finder somewhere other than State College. I’m thinking of starting a public Picasa web album where you can upload a screen shot (Power button + Home button) of your local station finder results. What do you think?

How to Use the Station Finder

flubacher — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:49:34 +0000

There are three main ways to find an NPR station.

Use the icon to the right of the search field to find stations near you using the iPhone/iPod Touch location services (read GPS).
Type in a 5 digit zip code of an area. Examples are “16801″ or “19610″.
Type in a city and state using the following format: , . The must be two characters, case doesn’t matter. Examples are: “State College, PA”, “Reading, PA” or “Cupertino, CA”.

When you have questions that you can’t find an answer to, please drop me a line! I love hearing from you. Your suggestions have been helpful, and I hope you’ll get to see one of your own show up a future update!

Satisfaction

flubacher — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:40:56 +0000

It is nice to see that so many of you have stuck with the application to see it through to this recent update. I can see from my statistics provided by Apple, that many have already gotten the newest version of the application.

I hope that you find it is more reliable, and more functional. I would appreciate any feedback you have to offer.

Many have been asking for a playlist queue, which is under development now, and hopefully can make it into your hands in the next month or two.

Station Finder + Podcasts Approved

flubacher — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:25:51 +0000

Keep an eye out for the update. It was approved tonight.

Hurry up and Wait

flubacher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:18:52 +0000

Last night, Apple rejected the update because of an incorrect icon (one that’s been in the app since day one).

So a two minute fix results in another week of waiting for you (and me).

Sorry…

Available Programming

flubacher — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:59:35 +0000

I’ve gotten a lot of comments and questions regarding available content. I’d just like to explain a couple of things-

Market Place is a program offered by American Public Media. APM is not NPR, and therefore is currently not available via this application.
This American Life is a program offered by Public Radio International. PRI is not NPR either…
Programs like Car Talk WILL become available to you from the Podcast section, once you get the update.

I appreciate your patience in waiting for the update. There have been a couple of minor problems with it that have kept it from being approved- some my fault, some not… My fingers are crossed that Sunday will be our day.

If I had one gripe regarding the whole Apple Store process, it would most definitely be the fact that when an application is rejected, it takes an entire week for it to be reviewed again. So a simple 2 minutes fix, takes an entire week to get into your hands. Maybe I’m just an instant gratification kind of guy..

Lessons learned.

Coming Soon to and iPhone Near You

flubacher — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:51:46 +0000

Many have expressed their interest in the station finder and the podcasts. They’re both on their way- development has been completed and we’re waiting on Apple for approval of the update. I’ve been using the new version on my iPhone for the past week, and have found it very useful. I’ve listened to Fresh Air and Car Talk, as well as the NPR Hourly News Updates. What’s really nice is that I’m able to listen to many shows that my local affiliate station doesn’t carry.

It’s worth noting here that the images in the App Store are NOT the ones that I added for the currently approved version. They’re the images I associated with v1.3, which has the station finder and the podcasts in it. For some reason, when Apple published the app, they used the wrong images. From my perspective, the result has been a lot of user confusion, and dashed expectations. All we can do is wait.

I’ve continued my contact with the folks at NPR. Per their request, I’ll be changing the name of the application.